Weather And Climate: There's No Planet B

Andrew Ellicott Douglass, an astronomer from Arizona in the 1920s, was one of the first scientists to embrace the idea of climate change on our planet. It was known that tree rings were thinner in drier years and thicker during years of higher precipitation. Douglass noticed that a climate shift occurred in the 17th century when he analyzed old logs that indicated a century-long climate variation (Weart). Back then, there were not too many records that illustrated a shift in our climate; this was a discovery that sparked the thought of climate change.

Today, anthropogenic climate variation, more commonly referred to as ‘climate change,’ is a controversial topic in American society. Climate change was first noted by climatologists in the 1950s and global interest in the topic has grown worldwide since then.

Storm severity and frequency became a topic of conversation in the late 1990s and has also become quite controversial. “The effects of global warming are unfolding even more quickly than initially predicted.

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In the Antarctic, for instance, ice is melting faster than expected, causing rising sea levels, and coral reefs are dying as ocean temperatures warm. Other locations are experiencing extreme weather, such as severe droughts or unusually heavy rainfall” (Ladika). Is the increased severity and frequency of extreme weather linked to climate change, or are they simply disconnected, yet occurring simultaneously?

Starting in the early 20th century, it was thought that any change in the weather and climate was a “temporary local excursion” (Weart). Scientists believed that a great climate shift took tens of thousands of years to see evidence of its occurrence.

However, the mindset changed in the 1960s and 1970s, and scientists began to believe that the shift in climate could be seen within a few hundred years. As science and technology evolved, the idea of climate variation changed yet again. It is now thought that the effects of humans on our environment can be seen within only one decade. Just in the past couple of years, “record-setting weather events devastated large parts of the United States in 2017 and early [in 2018], including deadly wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes in California, ensuing mudslides and hurricanes that flooded the Southeast and obliterated communities in Puerto Rico” (Marshall). Seen by thousands of citizens, including myself, there have been more 1-in-500-years and 1-in-1,000-years weather events occurring than ever previously recorded. “New data show[s] that extreme weather events have become more frequent over the past 36 years, with a significant uptick in… hydrological events compared even with five years ago” (European Academies' Science Advisory Council).

Today, scientists studying our environment and anthropogenic climate variation are conducting research to examine the effects of human activity on our planet. “The United States spends approximately $1.5 billion annually researching global environmental change, including climate change” (Bostrom 595). They are attempting to predict climate variability and natural hazards, such as tornadoes, large hail, damaging wind gusts, heatwaves, flooding, and severe thunderstorms occurring in the real world. Their research is focused on those natural hazards in order to perform an analysis of the changing of our climate and to create a timeline, which would help us better understand any correlation between severe weather and climate change.

The climate change controversy is an ongoing dispute concerning the effects of humankind on our global climate and the solutions that should be implemented to avoid the potential consequences which could be catastrophic. Currently, the scientific consensus on climate change indicates a stable long-term trend, indicating that serious human-caused damage may occur our planet if we do not take steps to correct it. Mainstream scientific organizations concur with the assessment that most of the observed climate change over the previous half-century is most likely caused by humans. There is a very small, however outspoken group of scientists in weather and weather-related fields that disagree with the consensus view. Since the 1990s, climate change has been adopted by politicians and candidates for political leverage. When Vice President Al Gore served his office, he began politicizing climate change as “global warming” and in 2006, released the documentary An Inconvenient Truth, winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature that year (Gorman). Democrats have embraced climate change as a serious scientific issue, while many Republicans have taken a more skeptical attitude toward the topic.

During the Obama-era, the president announced a “major anti-climate change plan… aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the nation’s coal-fired power plants” (Sowers). President Obama proposed that the United States become a leader in the lowering of carbon emissions, and by the year 2030, lessen the 2005 power electric sector emissions levels by 32 percent (Sowers). However, Republican lawmakers, coal-producing states, and utility companies disapproved this plan. Leader Mitch McConnell, a senior United States Senator and as Senate Majority Leader who represents the state of Kentucky, promised to “do everything [he could] to fight [the regulation].” Kentucky is a coal producing state and it was thought that if the White House halted the coal industry, then it would be taking aim at the “lifeblood of [the] state’s economy” (Estep).

Over the past couple of decades, it has been reported that Republicans have become more doubtful about anthropogenic climate variation. Today, fewer than a third of registered U.S. Republicans believe that climate change is caused by human activity, rather most believe that it is part of Earth’s natural cycle. While not all Republicans embrace this stance, “being skeptical about global warming has become part of Republican or conservative identity,” (Popovich) said Riley E. Dunlap, a professor of environmental sociology at Oklahoma State University. “...barely 50 percent of Republicans attribute the cause of climate change to human activity. Since the election of Donald Trump as president, Republicans agree that climate change is happening, threatens humans...” (Popovich).

“Human activities have contributed substantially to observed ocean-atmosphere variability in the Atlantic Ocean, and these changes have contributed to the observed upward trend in North Atlantic hurricane activity since the 1970s” (Kossin). Both theory and storm models indicate an increase in hurricanes and projected precipitation rates in the same period of time. As severe weather is becoming more frequent in today’s society, some scientists are arguing that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) needs more money and authority. However, others say the owness of natural casualty aid is the responsibility of each individual state or local government. The problem comes into play when the Trump administration wants to cut programs that help with disaster-related preparation and recovery.

Global climate change has definitely emerged as a fact that our future generation of scientists and politicians must eventually confront and solve. Current scientists around the globe continue to investigate the causes and solutions to global change, as the rest of us struggle to wrap our minds around it. Throughout this process, we continue to ask, is the increased severity and frequency of extreme weather linked to climate change. Some say “yes;” some say “no.” Whatever the answer, I’m hoping my generation not only figures that out but also succeeds in finding a solution before it is too late… as there is no plan(et) B.